‘That’s your standard outfit for an armed blagger these days. Bank robbers are often forensically aware, having been nicked before, but they’re not as bright as they like to think they are and make mistakes. You only have one crack at examining a scene like this as you can’t seal the street off for ever. If you miss anything of evidential value, no matter how small, it could hinder the investigation.’

‘What about informants? Do you get many cases where someone tells you who’s responsible for an armed robbery?’

‘Sometimes, but I don’t get involved in that side of squad work as I’m just a SOCO. As I see it, criminals grass on each other for a variety of reasons, such as money or to remove a rival. Being a police informant is a highly dangerous occupation, which can get you killed.’

‘I’ve never had a registered informant, but sometimes people I arrested told me, “off the record”, who else was involved to get a reduction in their own sentence at court.’

‘Well, if you want to get on in the Flying Squad you’ll be expected to cultivate informants. A lot of the lads on the squad have them and their information has led to pavement arrests during the commission of armed robberies.’

‘How’s the team feel about the Operation Countryman investigation?’

Jane knew some Flying Squad officers had been arrested in the investigation into police corruption in London.

‘Thankfully no one at Rigg has been arrested or interviewed on suspicion of corruption by the Sweedy—’

‘Did you say the Sweedy?’

‘Yeah, it’s what the squad guys call the officers on Countryman. They’re all from Hampshire and Dorset, which are rural forces, and the name “Sweedy” comes from the vegetable swede.’

Jane grinned. ‘I’ve heard county officers referred to as “carrot crunchers”, but never “Sweedy”.’

‘The latest I heard was the officer in charge of Countryman is alleging that the investigation is being wilfully obstructed by Commissioner McNee and the Director of Public Prosecutions. McNee wants all the Countryman evidence to be passed to the Met and dealt with by its own internal investigation unit, A10.’

‘I’ve been interviewed by the “rubber heelers” myself.’

She used a police term that had come about because you can’t hear the internal investigation officers coming due to the rubber heels on their shoes.

Dabs looked surprised. ‘Have you?’

‘Not for corruption, I hasten to add. One was a case when I was a probationer and the other more recent, when a dentist who murdered four people committed suicide. Thankfully I was only given some words of advice and a slap on the wrist in both cases.’

‘I remember reading about the murders in Peckham Rye about a year ago and the press kept using the headline “Murder Mile”. I couldn’t believe a Harley Street dentist was responsible.’